USPTO Patents Application 09625745

United States Patent and Trademark Office

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark OHice
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATE^4TS
P.O.Box 1450

Alexandria. Virpnia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov

APPLICATION NO-

FILING DATE

FIRST NAMED INVENTOR

ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.

CONFIRMATION NO.

09/625,745

07/26/2000

22204 7590 01/09/2006

NIXON PEABODY, LLP
401 9TH STREET, NW
SUITE 900

WASHINGTON, DC 20004-2128

Albert Henricus Francicus de Heer

GDTIP004

8534

EXAMINER

AL HASHEMI. SANA A

ART UNIT

PAPER NUMBER

2164

DATE MAILED: 01/09/2006

Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.

PTO-90C (Rev. 10/03)

OfficB Action Sunimsrv

Application No.

09/625,745

Applicant(s)

DE HEER ETAL

Examiner

Sana Al-Hashemi

Art Unit

2164

- The MAILING DATE of this communication appears on the cover sheet with the correspondence address »
Period for Reply

A SHORTENED STATUTORY PERIOD FOR REPLY IS SET TO EXPIRE 1 MONTH(S) OR THIRTY (30) DAYS.
WHICHEVER IS LONGER, FROM THE MAILING DATE OF THIS COMMUNICATION.

- Extensions of time may be available under the provisions of 37 CFR 1.136(a). In no event, however, may a reply be timely filed
after SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- If NO period for reply is specified above, the maximum statutory period will apply and will expire SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- Failure to reply witfiin the set or extended period for reply will, by statute, cause the application to become ABANDONED (35 U.S.C. § 133).
Any reply received by the OfHce later than three months after the mailing date of this communication, even if timely filed, may reduce any
earned patent term adjustment. See 37 CFR 1.704(b).

Status

1 )S Responsive to communication(s) filed on 14 October 2005 .
2a)n This action is FINAL. 2b)l3 Tliis action is non-final.

3) n Since this application is in condition for allowance except for fomial matters, prosecution as to the merits is

closed in accordance with the practice under £x parte Quayle, 1935 CD. 11, 453 O.G. 213.

Disposition of Clainfis

4) S Claim(s) 1-56 is/are pending in the application.

4a) Of the above claim(s) is/are withdrawn from consideration.

5) 0 Claim(s) is/are allowed.

6) n Claim(s) is/are rejected.

/)□ Claim(s) is/are objected to.

8) S Claim(s) 1-56 are subject to restriction and/or election requirement.

Application Papers

9) n The specification is objected to by the Examiner.

10) 0 The drawing(s) filed on is/are: aO accepted or b)n objected to by the Examiner.

Applicant may not request that any objection to the drawing(s) be held in abeyance. See 37 CFR 1.85(a).
Replacement drawing sheet(s) including the con-ection is required if the drawing(s) is objected to. See 37 CFR 1.121(d).

11) n The oath or declaration is objected to by the Examiner. Note the attached Office Action orfonn PTO-152.

Priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119

12) n Acknowledgment is made of a claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) or (f).
a)n All b)n Some * 0)0 None of:

1 Certified copies of the priority documents have been received.

2. n Certified copies of the priority documents have been received in Application No. .

3. n Copies of the certified copies of the priority documents have been received in this National Stage

application from the International Bureau (PCT Rule 17.2(a)).
* See the attached detailed Office action for a list of the certified copies not received.

Attachnfient(s)

1) D Notice of References Cited {PTO-892) 4) □ Interview Summary (PTO-413)

2) □ Notice of Draftsperson's Patent Drawing Review (PTO-948) Paper No(s)/Mail Date. ,

3) □ Information Disclosure Statennent(s) (PTO-1449 or PTO/SB/08) 5) □ Notice of Informal Patent Application (PTO-1 52)

Paper No(s)/Mail Date . 6) □ Other: .

U.S. Patent and Trademartt Office
PTOL-326 (Rev. 7-05)

Office Action Summary

Part of Paper No./Mail Date 20060104

Application/Control Number: 09/625,745 Page 2

Art Unit: 2164

DETAILED ACTION

1 . This action is issued in response to Applicant's RCE filed 10/14/05.

2. Claims 1-26 were amended. Claims 27-56 were added. No claims were canceled.

3. Claims 1-56 are pending.

Election/Restrictions

This application contains claims directed to the following patentably distinct species of
the claimed invention:

Species I, Claims 1-26, and 29-35 drawn to 8B.
Species II, Claims 27-28, drawn to Fig. lOA.
Species III, Claims 36-49, drawn to Fig. 12B.
Species VI, Claims 50-56, drawn to Fig. 9C.

Applicant is required under 35 U.S.C. 121 to elect a single disclosed species for
prosecution on the merits to which the claims shall be restricted if no generic claim is finally
held to be allowable. Currently, No Claims are generic.

Applicant is advised that a reply to this requirement must include an identification of the
species that is elected consonant with this requirement, and a listing of all claims readable

Application/Control Number: 09/625,745 Page 3

Art Unit: 2164

thereon, including any claims subsequently added. An argument that a claim is allowable or that
all claims are generic is considered nonresponsive unless accompanied by an election.

Upon the allowance of a generic claim, applicant will be entitled to consideration of
claims to additional species which are written in dependent form or otherwise include all the
limitations of an allowed generic claim as provided by 37 CFR 1.141. If claims are added after
the election, applicant must indicate which are readable upon the elected species. MPEP §
809.02(a).

Should applicant traverse on the ground that the species are not patentably distinct,
applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the species to
be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the
examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission
may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.

Application/Control Number; 09/625,745
Art Unit: 2164

Page 4

Point of Contact

Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to Sana Al-Hashemi whose telephone number is 571-272-4013.
The examiner can normally be reached on 8Am-4:30Pm.

If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's
supervisor, Charles Rones can be reached on 571-272-4085. The fax phone number for the
organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.

Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent
Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications
may be obtained from either Private PAIR or PubHc PAIR. Status information for unpublished
applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR
system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR
system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).

SfCnsk Al-Hashemi
Patent Examiner
Technology Center 2100